Officials keeping careful eye on North Platte River

Heavy rains and an impressive snowpack recently sent Pathfinder Reservoir exploding over its spillway, putting emergency officials on alert for the potential of flooding in Converse County this summer.

Converse County Emergency Coordinator Russ Dalgarn said that he has been communicating daily with officials from several agencies — including the Bureau of Reclamation, State Parks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office — about the current and potential flows of the North Platte River this summer.

“There is still a bunch of snow pack that needs to melt and run off in the high country of Colorado as well as southern Wyoming,” Dalgarn said in an email.

At the time, the reservoirs were nearing capacity.  But Pathfinder Reservoir has since started to spill over, which means officials are no longer able to control the amount of water that comes down stream to Converse County.

Over the weekend, hundreds of people took advantage of the warm weather to pay a visit to the dam, which was gushing over for the fourth time in 30 years.   

Many of the cars seen driving around had Converse County license plates.

Dalgarn said that officials are currently discharging more water up stream from the dam  in order make some room for the melting snowpack in Pathfinder, Alcova, and Grey Reef.